Sorry, but I gotta side with Avalonian. I have no problem with PETA pointing out appalling conditions at factory farms, but they then basically wreck their argument by concluding that you should go vegetarian, not that you should support responsible farming practices. The majority or meat product that I buy come from small, local, responsible producers, thankyouverymuch.
The worst thing about this story is that it’s no longer possible to write to Santa and comiserate :eek:
Typical PETA members are not nuts. It’s their leadership which is of questionable mental stability; one can extrapolate from Ms. Newkirk’s statements that she won’t be happy until the human race is extinct.
According to an incredibly authoritative site which milk has made me too lazy to link to, reindeer milk is especially bad for you:
"The richest milk of any domesticated animal is that of the reindeer. The reindeer is raised for its milk by the Laplanders in the Arctic regions. The reindeer milk has a 22.3 percent butterfat content. Reindeer milk is also 10.3 percent protein which is about three times that of cow’s milk. Reindeer’s milk is only 2.5 percent sugar which is half as sweet as human milk. The Laplanders drink as much of this nourishing milk as they can, but that isn’t very much. The female reindeer at the height of the milking season only produces about a cup of milk each day.
"
This explains why Laplanders so rarely star in porno movies.
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in months.
I’m sorry but that’s awesome.
PETA is?
This campaign would have featured Triumph the Insult-Comic Dog, and a jab like that sounds perfect for Triumph. Apparently, they’re now planning to use the slogan “Cut 'em off-they don’t taste that good, anyway.”
I once threatened PETA with their own tactics. I told them I was going to put explosives in a cow and set it off in front of their HQ.
They said that it would be abominable.
GAAAAAAAAHHHH!
shudders
twitches
falls to the ground in a heap
And one noble bovine.
eli_the_fanatic have you ever actually been on a functioning dairy farm? Do you know any dairy farmers? Have you had any personal encounters with the people who run dairy farms? Do you really know what a family farm is like?
Honey, prepare to meet one pissed off dairy farmer’s daughter.
I’ve spent a lot of time around cows. My entire family has. We run a family dairy farm. In fact, the farm has been in our family since 1848. You might say that dairying is in our blood; we even come from the Dairy State. We are part of the proud tradition of dairy farming in Wisconsin. For these reasons, I feel I am able to offer an opinion based on 19 years of experience hanging out around cows and reading Hoard’s Dairyman because it was the most exciting magazine in the house: If you treat your cattle well, from birth to death, you will not only make a higher profit, you will be less likely to encounter the situations that PETA takes so much joy in advertising.
From a purely economic standpoint, insuring that your cattle are well-watered, well-fed, and comfortable is just good business sense. It 1) saves on vet bills, 2) increases milk yields WITHOUT resorting to BGH, and 3) just makes your life a hell of a lot easier. A good dairy cow is worth a lot of money. Mistreating one is about the same as treating your car like crap – eventually it won’t run anymore and you will have lost a lot money in the process. When one dies, it’s both an economic and emotional loss. As stupid as the critters are, you become attached to them – some of them are downright loveable.
As for PETA’s allegations that ALL the animals are kept in squalor and in totally inadequate conditions, there are hundreds and hundreds of regulations which a farmer must comply with if s/he wants to be able to market their product. The number only increases as you climb from the different grades. If you want to sell Grade A milk, you’ve got to treat your animals well and have your grounds in tip-top shape. If you don’t, the inspector won’t pass you and you won’t be selling that grade. Simple as that. (For a list of the Wisconsin requirements go here: http://www.uwex.edu/milkquality/Regulations/ ) These guidelines are not in place merely to protect humans from disease, they are also to prevent the mistreatment of herd animals. Deliberate mistreatment of animals will get your license yanked just as quickly as manure in the milk.
Essentially, any farmer with any business acumen at all will treat his livestock well. It pays off and lord knows it’s hard enough to make a living in the dairy industry with a good business plan, let alone one which entails high fatality rates and low individual milk yields.
Whenever I read things like this, I always wonder if the members of PETA would each be willing to take a minimum of five cattle as pets, to live in their homes, while they pay for all the food it takes to keep them running as well as cleaning up their massives poos. I also like to imagine them in a field, hundreds of yards away from a fenceline, between a bull and a cow in estrus. Wearing a red shirt. (Such an image makes me happy when I think of the anti-milk campaigns. I’m a diabetic. When I saw milk listed as a cause of diabetes, it seriously pissed me off. My diabetes was not caused by milk; it was caused by a viral infection that made my immune system attack my islets of Langerhans so that I don’t produce insulin anymore.) Sometimes the desires of cattle and what comes naturally to them run counter to a human sustaining life.
I’ve always basically seen the aim of PETA as the complete eradication of the meat and dairy industries – forget their praise of the family farm. What they envision is a utopia where cattle and humans can peacefully co-exist, perhaps picnicking in a field together, on the most delectable of Kentucky bluegrass, while their children run together free, bound by no fences. In this vision, animals will eventually rise to their proper place in the world, perhaps as members of PETA themselves, rampantly decrying pet-owners everywhere. They see cattle as a sort of very large dachsund or poodle – “Ah! Aren’t they cute?!?” Should the dairy and beef/pork/poultry industries collapse, people aren’t going to want to keep around a bunch of animals they aren’t making profit off of, leading to the extermination of a ton of animals that otherwise would be alive. Eventually, a domesticated species would be virtually extinct. This would seem counterproductive to PETA’s aims, unless they’re willing to have an EXTREMELY large lap dog for a pet.
Sarah
Dear sweet lord, where did that come from? I’m a . . . conservative? faints
lillalette, next to PETA Barbara Streisand is a conservative.